...Goes unpunished. Or so the cynical saying goes. While I do believe that there is a kernel of truth in the statement, I don’t know if I truly do believe in it. Judge for yourself.
Many years ago I had heard about The 48 Hour Film Festival from a friend. What it is (and I believe it still exists) is a traveling contest. On a Friday night several teams draw a movie genre from a hat. They had a pre-set list of obvious ones such as horror, comedy, drama, etc. Each contestant would get a different genre. The contest administrators drew from a hat three separate items: a line of dialogue, a prop, and a character. Each and every film had to include these three items. Then you have until that same time on Sunday night to turn in a completed movie. They would be screened the following Tuesday and Wednesday at a local theater. And they would also select winners in various categories.
I had been making shorts in DV for about two years and thought this might be fun. I sign up for their newsletter and hear that they are coming to Los Angeles. I mention it to my friend Dave. He wants to enter too. I think it would be great if we both make films and am supportive. In fact he was more gung-ho about the contest than I am.
A few days before the contest, they announce which teams’ films would be shown on which night. I am on Tuesday and Dave is on Wednesday. So I buy tickets to both screenings. When I explain this to Dave he is immediately apologetic and says he can’t afford to see both screenings. He had a young baby and the cost of the tickets and a babysitter in addition to the expense of making the film would be too much. I explain that I understand. I bought tickets to the other night only because I wanted to see his film and be supportive. But I also felt his reasoning was specious. Didn’t he want to see the other films he would be competing with for the awards? He couldn’t ask his wife to stay home with the baby and go out by himself? After all, he wouldn’t be in this contest if it weren’t for me. But I keep these feelings to myself. He says how he will want to see the film and that we can exchange tapes or DVDs after the contest. I agree that I’ll do that but also know how these things often work out.
The night of the contest I drew the genre “mockumentary.” The contest added one other criteria. All the films must have a land-mark of Los Angeles. This was something they add the first time they bring the contest to a new city. I think this added criteria and such previous mockumentaries as “This is Spinal Tap” and “Waiting for Guffman” inspired me to do a parody of the casting process in Hollywood. This is also good, because I can just write an outline that is improvised around rather than a full script and any clunkiness in the production values can be attributed to the documentary style required for the genre.
Dave drew “Comedy.” I wish him luck. Once again he launches into an apology for not coming to the screening of my short. I say it is okay and that I understand and we go off to make our movies.
Saturday morning I start shooting my project “Cattle Call.” But something bizarre happened with my main camera early in the day. I remember thinking that the picture looked wrong in the little viewfinder. But my cinematographer didn’t think anything was wrong and I trusted her.
Towards the end of the day I am manning the main camera and dissatisfied with what I see. On instinct I shut off the camera and turn it back on. When it turns back on the image in the viewfinder is bright and clear and the colors are vibrant. Damn! What a bizarre malfunction. When I get to the cutting room, I see some of what my editors had put together and realize that all that footage was EXTREMELY dark and murky. Way worse than it looked in the camera’s viewfinder. None of it matched the look of the second camera. I have the editors put color effects to brighten up the image so you can at least see what’s going on. But because it was shot improperly, it also washes out the colors.
Because of the improv with the actors, I wound up shooting a lot of film. There were a lot of things I wanted to try in the editing room. Alternate plots to explore. Alternate takes with different jokes. But ultimately I couldn’t because of the deadline. We get done and I feel the piece is decent, but not as good as it can be. It looks ugly and un-professional.
We output a tape and I drop it off about a half an hour before the deadline. I stay and chat for a minute and head home to crash. The next day Dave calls me at work ostensibly to ask me how it went. But before that he launches into another apology for not coming to my screening.
Now I don’t know what overcame me. I hadn’t thought of this before. But on instinct I just say that he has nothing to worry about because I didn’t make it. I tell him that I got to the place to hand in the film about ten minutes late and was disqualified. I don’t know what possessed me to say that at that time. In retrospect it was primarily to save Dave’s feelings. So he would feel that he wasn't missing anything. I think on an extra unconscious level it was because I felt that my movie wasn’t good and I would rather not show it to anyone. From my point of view, Dave really wasn’t missing anything.
In talking to Dave, I felt he had the same overall feeling about the contest I did. The forced time constraint did light a fire under us – but was also was an albatross around our necks. I realized that this contest was not geared toward me. We all know people who claim to be writing a script, or novel, or making a short film. But they never find the right level of commitment to really do more than write a bunch of notes or shoot some footage but never cut it together. Or they or so obsessed with getting EVERYTHING perfect that they keep re-writing and re-shooting. And the piece never gets finished. For people like that, this contest is perfect. The deadline gives them a reason to not fuss over every little thing and just get it done. I have started projects and abandoned them. But they have been few in number. Especially when compared to the ones I had completed. So the time limit provided a level of inspiration I didn’t need. It was only a constraint on my creativity.
I go to the screenings. My cast and crew come to see "Cattle Call" and they really love it. The audience laughed in all the right places. But all I see is the missed opportunity and bad cinematography. Most of the rest of the shorts are also rather mediocre too. So that is re-assuring. But only mildly. All night people are praising me for my short and saying how funny it was. But I am kinda numb to the whole thing. All night I keep thinking about how George Lucas said he was unhappy with “Star Wars” and felt it was a fraction of what he wanted and the fact that people loved it did not ameliorate his desire for it to be better.
Dave’s movie is very funny and has good production values and I am sincere when I said that I liked it. He ultimately made a parody of an infomercial. He tells me to give him a tape of my short because he still wants to see it. I assure him that I will do that.
Skip ahead about a week. I get an email from the 48 Hour Film Project. The subject of which is simply “And the winners are...” I open it and scan to see if I can remember any of the films that win. There are a bunch of categories such as “Best use of the prop.”
I scroll to the bottom and see “Cattle Call” and my name. I didn’t win “Best Picture.” But I won “Best Directing.” Actually, I tied for best directing with the people who also won for “Best Picture.” But a tie is still a win over 37 other short movies.
After I get over my initial shock (because in my mind the project sucked), a wave of regret comes over me. Right then my phone rings. I know who it is.
“I thought you said you didn’t turn your film in on time” Dave says. There is no way out. I have to come clean. So I admit that I lied to him so he wouldn’t feel bad about missing the screening of my film. Needless to say, Dave was pretty angry with me. Not only at being lied to, but also finding out this way, and also to losing to me with a project which I said was sub-par. It wasn’t like I won “Best Sound” or some small prize. I won “Best Directing.”
That was many years ago and I still don’t understand how I won that award. I also decided it was best to go out with a bang and hung up my hat in regards to making shorts. I haven’t directed a short since. I think that still to this day, Dave hasn’t seen “Cattle Call.”
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